Category Archives: Inspiration

Who Knew I Could Write a Novel?

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

I’m happy to welcome award-winning author Lynn Slaughter. Today, Lynn shares her incredible journey from professional dancer to award-winning author and her new release, Missed Cue.

Here’s Lynn!

I spent decades as a professional modern dancer and dance educator. I was passionate about my work, and if you asked me who I was, right after the words “wife and mother,” out would come “dancer.”

I felt fortunate to dance into my fifties. In fact, when I turned fifty, I performed an autobiographical concert, “Flying at Fifty,” with my husband and other dancers in our company, to celebrate.

Eventually, however, age and injury caught up with me, and I retired after my first hip replacement.

I was grieving for the loss of dance in my life when I got an idea for a story about a young aspiring ballet dancer determined to unravel secrets her friends and parents were keeping. In retrospect, I think working on this project was a way to cope with my grief. That story ended up becoming my first young adult novel, WHILE I DANCED.

Who knew I could write a novel? Definitely not me! While I was still dancing, I moonlighted as a freelancer writing articles, mainly for regional parenting magazines. But although I’d been a voracious reader of fiction, I’d never thought I had the fiction gene. But here I was, suddenly hooked on writing fiction. I ended up returning to school to earn my MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University.

While I was in grad school, I had a terrible bout of imposter syndrome. It seemed as though every writer in the program, except for me, had known they were destined to become writers the minute they could hold a pencil. From early childhood on, they’d penned stories, poems, and plays.

That wasn’t my story at all. From the get-go, music made me want to move, and my lifelong passion had been dance. But thanks to some amazing faculty mentors at Seton Hill, I got lots of help developing my craft as a writer and just as important, I got encouragement and support.

Since finishing my MFA, I’ve kept going as a writer. MISSED CUE, which came out from Melange Books this month, is my fifth published novel, and I’m currently working on my next one.

As a dancer, I treasured those times on stage when I’d be “in the zone,” totally immersed in the movement and the moment. Now, I get to experience those times as a writer.

I’m amazed to have found a second act in my life which has been so rewarding and meaningful, especially doing something I’d never imagined I could do. One of my favorite quotes is:

“It’s better to look back on life and say, “I can’t believe I did that.” than to look back and say: “I wish I did that.” – Unknown

Blurb

While dealing with her own messy personal life, homicide detective Caitlin O’Connor investigates the most complicated case of her career, the suspicious onstage death of a revered ballerina.

Author Bio and Links

Lynn Slaughter is addicted to the arts, chocolate, and her husband’s cooking. After a long career as a professional dancer and dance educator, Lynn earned her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. Her first mystery for adults, MISSED CUE, came out this month from Melange Books. She is also the author of four award-winning young adult romantic mysteries: DEADLY SETUP, LEISHA’S SONG, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU, AND WHILE I DANCED. Lynn lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where she’s at work on her next novel, serves on the board of Louisville Literary Arts, and is an active member and former president of Derby Rotten Scoundrels, the Ohio River Valley chapter of Sisters in Crime.

Website | Twitter | Amazon Buy Link

It Was All Feedback

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

Here’s an inspiring excerpt from Mary Morrissey’s recent release, Brave Thinking:

For anything to have a chance of becoming reality, you need to first imagine it. When we allow ourselves to imagine a life we would love, we discover resources we didn’t know we had. With a well-formed dream, you can advance confidently in its direction. The laws of nature work differently when you are in this state. Take as an example Thomas Edison, arguably one of the most prolific inventors of all time, who aimed to devise a major invention every six months and a minor one every ten days.

When asked how he survived 10,000 failures before building the first incandescent bulb, he famously replied that he had never had a failure. He had simply found thousands of ways for it not to work.

It was all feedback. “I was never myself discouraged or inclined to be hopeless of success. I cannot say the same for all my associates,” he wrote. “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

Source: Brave Thinking, pp. 42-43

Too Late is a Decision, Not a Position

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

In her book, Let It Be Easy: Simple Ways to Stop Stressing & Start Living, life coach Susie Moore shares insightful gems. Here’s a thought-provoking one for anyone contemplating a second, third, or nth act in life:

There’s nothing worse than adding milk to your tea, taking a sip, and discovering that the milk is…sour. You check the carton and the expiration date tells you it went off days ago. The milk has a “line-in-the-sand” expiration. Do not use it after this date—it will taste gross and might make you sick.

But why on earth would we think that humans have an expiration date? Let’s say we did. When would it be? Age thirty-five? Forty? Fifty-seven? Says who? And for what practical reason? As Oprah says, “So long as there is breath in your body, there is more.”

I love to hear stories of people who started things at later life stages. My mum went back to school in her mid-fifties to study childhood education. Julia Child released her first cookbook at fifty. Vera Wang entered the fashion industry at forty. Harriet Doerr published her first novel at seventy-four.

You are not behind. When people come to see me hoping to launch a new venture but think they might be “too late,” they overlook the fact that they already know so much. Their experience is a huge advantage, not something to underplay or discount. No experience is wasted. It can be gloriously transferred. I work with former (“recovering” they tell me) lawyers who now coach stepmoms to navigate the challenges of a blended family. Accountants who create art and sell it all over the world. Didn’t they get the memo that January 1, 2013, was their expiration date and that they’re breaking the rules? I guess not. Someone should arrest them.

I once heard an investor say, “We prefer to invest in slightly older CEOs. They’ve experienced more. They can be wiser. We have better outcomes with them.”

It’s never too late.

Source: Let It Be Easy, pp. 247-248

The Secret to Success

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

Here’s an inspirational message from bestselling author and motivational speaker, John Maxwell:

Focus on Your Blessings

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

A long-time fan of bestselling authors and coaches Marc and Angel Chernoff, I look forward to reading their emails and blog posts. Here’s an excerpt from a recent post:

Even when your past — your story — tries to pull you back in, you can consciously do your best to focus on your present blessings. What do you see in your life right now? Be thankful for the good parts. For your health, your family, your friends, or your home. Many people don’t have these things.

Remind yourself that the richest human is rarely the one who has the most, but the one who needs less. Wealth is a daily mindset. Want less and appreciate more today. Easier said than done of course, but with practice gratitude does get easier. And as you practice, you transform your past struggles into present moments of freedom.

Ultimately, on the average day, happiness is letting go of what you assume your life is supposed to be like right now and sincerely appreciating it for everything that it is. So, at the end of this day, before you close your eyes, smile and be at peace with where you’ve been and grateful for what you have. Life has goodness.

Keep reminding yourself…

*You are not your bad days.

*You are not your mistakes.

*You are not your scars.

*You are not your past.

Be here now and breathe.

Note: I highly recommend subscribing to Marc & Angel’s website.

How Fear Holds Us Back

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to feature author and humanitarian Jillian Haslam. Today, Jillian shares a thought-provoking post and her inspiring memoir, A Voice Out of Poverty.

Here’s Jillian!

“Living with fear stops us taking risks, and if you don’t go out on the branch, you’re never going to get the best fruit.” ~Sarah Parish

It starts off as a small seed of uncertainty. Once it takes root, it begins to blossom and multiply slowly by slowly.

Over time, if left unchecked, it grows into this huge mental obstacle that gets in the way of your willingness to risk or even try, in turn casting seeds of doubt about your ability to achieve your dreams.

This is how fear holds us back and causes us to lead small lives.

Fear comes masked in different veils, but whatever the form, the common thread is that it holds us captive, crippling us into inaction.

Of course, there are other times when fear is a positive thing. This is when it serves to alert us of real danger.

In most instances, however, fear is not based on reality. Rather, it could be feeding off of negative assumptions of what we imagine could happen.

The fight and flight response works both ways, you see. Thankfully, we can learn to manipulate it to work in our favour, rather than against us.

Says Jimmy Iovine:

“Fear. Fear’s a powerful thing. I mean it’s got a lot of firepower. If you can figure out a way to wrestle that fear to push you from behind rather than to stand in front of you, that’s very powerful.”

Fear will always be there. But you have the ability within you to do something about it.

It is possible to train yourself to manage your emotions and shift your outlook into a more positive direction. And in doing so, you start to move beyond the fear and embrace new experiences and opportunities.

Confronting your Fears One Step at a Time

Fear has to be one of the strongest human emotions. Then again, being the one emotion that determines whether we live or die, it is not hard to understand why.

It has this ability to assume a life of its own to the point that it can magnify a certain area of concern and make it more menacing than it is in actual sense.

Take fear of change, for example, a fear we have to confront in almost every aspect of our lives.

Usually, trying to overcome it using broad strategies such as positive thinking or learning to embrace uncertainty can only get us so far. It helps, obviously, but such strategies in themselves are likely to fall short.

So then, where do you begin?

In just the same that you tackle your goals by breaking them into small, actionable steps, approaching fear this way is likely to yield better results.

Instead of throwing a blanket solution on your fears, attacking one specific fear at a time is likely to see you enjoy small but incremental successes that gather steam gradually, building your confidence.

Identify the Trigger

Our fears emanate from certain triggers which are activated by the fight or flight response that is inherent in all humans.

Whenever we sense or experience a situation our brain considers dangerous, the body enters into a state of fight-flight (to fend off the danger or run for our lives) until the brain receives an all-clear message to switch off the response.

We fear situations or things that make us feel unsafe or unsure, some real; others imagined.

One common fear most people have is a fear of public speaking.

Speaking in front of others – whether in class, at a meeting with colleagues or clients, giving a speech etc. – can make us feel literally sick in the stomach as we weigh our options on how to approach the whole thing.

For example, when you are called upon to speak in a business meeting, your mind could go blank once the fear of speaking in front of people kicks in.

This doesn’t mean you do not know the business – quite on the contrary actually! You might be the best in a certain area, but because fear turns you into such a nervous wreck, it becomes incredibly difficult to put your points across.

This is how fear gradually gets in the way of the success we could otherwise achieve if we managed to fight back this fear.

If you are reading this, there is a higher chance than not that you know at least a person or two whom, despite not being the brightest bunny in the hutch, has made their way up the corporate ladder or become successful in their business ventures just because they boast great public speaking skills.

These days, hard skills alone can only get you so far. Soft skills, chief among them public speaking skills, can give you an edge.

This is why it is imperative to work towards ridding yourself of this fear (and others that get in your way of success!) because all it does is curtail your efforts at becoming the person you know you could become.

Rewrite your Story

While fear could have genetic roots (innate), a large part of it (regardless of type of fear) can be attributed to a certain event or situation that happened to us earlier in life (learned).

Whichever the case, whether innate or learned, the first step to push through the fear is to identify and understand the underlying trigger(s) behind it.

Pay attention to what you are feeling and try to identify the root source of these feelings of dread.

Once you do, acknowledge it for what it is without sugar-coating. Then gradually, start shifting your mind-set with regard to how you view this fear.

You will need to summon a treasure trove of emotional and psychological resources as you make attempts to overcome your fears. A large part of this will involve positive thinking and confidence as you need to start viewing the fear in a different perspective.

That’s especially considering fear will always be there. In fact, you will never manage to wrestle it completely to the ground.

But by changing your perspective from that sickening feeling in your stomach to an attitude along the lines of “I-am-ready-to-do-this!”, you will, as Jimmy Iovine said, allow that fear to push you from behind rather than getting in your way.

This is key.

Remember, it is not fear that holds you back. It is your attitude towards fear.
Napoleon Hill summed it up perfectly when he said:

“Fears are nothing more than a state of mind.”

No one says it will be easy. But if you take action and slowly build momentum, you will get there eventually.

Blurb

A woman’s ascent from devastating poverty and childhood trauma to international standing as a prominent advocate for the poor and helpless.

As a young girl, Jillian Haslam saved a life. Herself tiny and aching from malnutrition, she stood for hours at a tea shop, begging for a ladle of milk to try and prevent her newborn sister from dying of starvation.

From the slums of Calcutta to the executive floors of a global bank, A Voice out of Poverty offers an unflinching look at one woman’s journey from destitution to success.

Throughout, Haslam demonstrates an inexhaustible drive to rise above adversity and find beacons of positivity in impossible circumstances. But her rise doesn’t stop at the top; she returns to her roots again and again to extend a hand to those left in the impoverished communities that she so narrowly escaped.

British by ancestry and born in India after its independence, Haslam and her family suffered degradation and prejudice. They were forced to live on the streets, flee danger in the middle of the night, and face persistent abuse and starvation.

This treacherous environment is the backdrop of an unlikely story of resilience and an unshakable family bond. From squalor and powerlessness, Haslam finds countless moments of grace, community, gratitude, and love.

A Voice out of Poverty is a raw and inspiring memoir that shows how beauty can be found in improbable places, and how “success” is not just the act of making it through. Rather, it is the act of reaching back to bring others with you.

Excerpt

A bristly, grey rat jutted its head through a wide crack in the peeling stucco wall, its long tail draped behind and hidden. It squinted its beady eyes and sniffed the air, as a light drizzle started to dampen the ground.

A few feet away, an older homeless woman, sitting under a precarious building canopy, shifted her eyes towards the rat, without moving her head. A stray dog nestled next to her, one of three gathered snuggly around her, bared its teeth, and growled at the rodent, without rising.

The woman swiveled her head in the rat’s direction and shooed it away with a claw-like hand slicing the air. The rat withdrew, vanishing inside the wall. The dog returned its head to rest on its paws and closed its eyes.

The drizzle turned into a light rain.

My mother and I took in the rat scene side by side as we ambled down the street. My eyes remained riveted on the homeless woman. I wondered if she had a family or young children like me. Then, the noisy “pop-pop” of a Vespa flew near my eyes and broke my concentration, causing me to pull my head back abruptly. I gripped my mother’s hand as tightly as I could.

The rain was now steady but not enough to flood the crowded streets or inhibit the pace of the fast-moving foot and vehicle traffic. I looked up to see an old man pulling a rickshaw coming towards us. I stared at him. His emaciated body looked as if his skin could peel off in thin layers, like a stale onion. He stared at me, sharing his single black tooth. I held my stare.

The rickshaw puller veered off the line of his path, forcing a dilapidated scooter that packed an entire family to swerve near us. The scooter splashed mud onto my legs and dress, and I started to cry. My only proper dress was drenched with filth. I now would have to undress to underclothes while it got washed. My mother stopped and crouched in front of me. I didn’t hide my disgust.

Author Bio and Links

Jillian Haslam was born in 1970 and raised primarily in the slums of Calcutta. Despite the severe devastation of her family’s living circumstances, she completed her education and landed her first major employment as a personal assistant to the CEO at Bank of America in India.

Jillian rose through the ranks, and Bank of America appointed her president of its Charity and Diversity Network in India, where she spearheaded charitable work in four different cities. This led her to receive three philanthropic awards from Bank of America: the Star Recognition award, the Service Excellence award, and The Individual Achievement award.

In 2011, she published the first version of her memoir, Indian. English, which chronicles her life growing up amid dreadful poverty, abuse, and tragedy. The book sold over 150,000 copies, mostly while she was on the speaking circuit. Her story also incited interest from Hollywood and British film directors and producers, leading to the development of a feature film.

Charitable giving became Jillian’s life work. In 2012, she received the first runner up award for The Asian Woman of the Year in the “Social and Humanitarian” category. In early 2015, The Telegraph of Calcutta presented Jillian with the True Legend award for her exceptional contribution to social and humanitarian causes. In mid-2015, she was recognized as a finalist for the Role Model of the Year award for her work delivering speeches in educational institutes across the UK. In late 2016, she received an award for Excellence in Humanitarianism. And, in 2017, she received her greatest accolade, the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award.

Jillian became a speaker in demand and is a Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM). She has delivered several TEDx talks, among other prestigious speaking engagements, on various topics that flow from her life story. Jillian speaks on topics that include entrepreneurialism, the power of the mind, and human resilience.

She has also been featured on various TV networks, including Channel 5 and the BBC, and a wide range of print media, including The Independent, The Pioneer, The Times, The Telegraph, The Metro, Gulf News, and other major media outlets. Jillian’s charitable work continues under the auspices of the Remedia Trust where she oversees several separate charities: Ageing Smiles (for the elderly poor), Happy Hearts (for children), Empowering Girls (for teaching various workable skills), India’s Disabled (for building a mobile medical unit), E3 Growth (focused on education, employment, and employability), and the Mother Teresa Project (for women and single mothers).

Jillian currently lives in London with her husband.

Website | Goodreads | Facebook (Jillian) | Facebook (Film) | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon Buy Link

Giveaway

One randomly chosen winner via Rafflecopter will win a $25 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card. Find out more here.

Follow Jillian Haslam on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.

Argue for Your Possibilities

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

In her book, Let It Be Easy: Simple Ways to Stop Stressing & Start Living, life coach Susie Moore shares insightful gems. Here’s one of my favorites:

If you argue for your limitations, you get to keep them. But if you argue for your possibilities, they expand.

We are experts at knowing our limitations. We defend them doggedly. We set up Judge Judy-style courtrooms in our heads and play the part of the prosecution—against ourselves. Against our own possibilities.

What if we flipped the script?

Next time you’re about to prove a personal limitation, pause. Is it helpful, to you or anyone else? I’ve never found it to be so.

Are you “too sensitive”? Maybe you’re highly empathetic, and that’s a superpower!

Are you “disorganized”? Maybe you’re an action taker who focuses on the overall mission over tidy perfection.

Are you “on the bossy side”? Maybe you’re a natural, confident leader.

What’s there to apologize for or explain away, exactly, here?

Here’s a fun exercise. Imagine you’re responsible for defending your possibilities in a courtroom. If you had to be your own attorney for just five minutes, what would you say about who you really are and what you can do?

Source: Let It Be Easy, pp. 65-66

Letting Go

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

A long-time fan of bestselling authors and coaches Marc and Angel Chernoff, I look forward to reading their emails and blog posts. Here’s an excerpt from a recent post:

All of the things from our past that we desperately try to hold on to, as if they’re real, solid, everlasting fixtures in our lives, aren’t really there. Or if they are there in some form, they’re changing, fluid, impermanent, or simply imagined storylines in our minds.

Life gets a lot easier to deal with the moment we understand this.

Imagine you’re blindfolded and treading water in the center of a large swimming pool, and you’re struggling desperately to grab the edge of the pool that you think is nearby, but really it’s not—it’s far away. Trying to grab that imaginary edge is stressing you out, and tiring you out, as you splash around aimlessly trying to holding on to something that isn’t there.

Now imagine you pause, take a deep breath, and realize that there’s nothing nearby to hold on to. Just water around you. You can continue to struggle with grabbing at something that doesn’t exist… or you can accept that there’s only water around you, and relax, and float.

Today I challenge you to ask yourself:

*What’s something from the past that you are still desperately trying to hold on to?

*How is it affecting you in the present?

Then imagine the thing you’re trying to hold on to doesn’t really exist. Envision yourself letting go… and just floating.

How might that change your life from this moment forward?

Note: I highly recommend subscribing to Marc & Angel’s website.

Growing My Wings

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

I look forward to receiving weekly emails from Robert Holden, a British psychologist, author, and broadcaster, who works in the field of positive psychology and well-being. Here’s an excerpt from a recent email:

At the start of the year, I got a shoulder injury. I got it playing football with my son Christopher. I was playing in goal, when I made a heroic dive that ruptured tendons in my shoulder.

A few days later, my family and I flew to Findhorn, Scotland. I booked myself in to see Kemi, who is an amazing bodyworker and healer who lives nearby.

“There is a deeper purpose to this injury!” Kemi told me.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Your shoulders are telling me that they want you to rest more,” she said.

“I’d like that,” I said.

“To heal your shoulder injury, you will need to lighten the load you are carrying,” she said.

“You mean, take some weight off my shoulders?”

“Yes,” she said. “And it’s time to grow wings.”

Louise Hay believed that the body is a message board. And that your body is always trying to give you messages to help you be healthier, happier, and more whole.

Kemi feels the same way about the body. “Listening to your body is a spiritual practice,” she says.

Asking yourself a question like, “What message does my body want me to know today?” is a great practice for living a healthy life.

My new spiritual practice is growing wings. I am enjoying playing with this metaphor.

‘So, what can I do to grow my wings?” I asked Kemi.

“Let life love you more,” she told me, with a smile.

“I wrote a book about that!” I said.

“Let your angels help you more,” she said.

“You mean, stop trying to do life all by myself,” I said.

“Exactly,” she said.

Note: I highly recommend subscribing to Robert Holden’s website.